Services

I provide treatment that carries a duel emphasis on reducing mental and physical symptoms of depression, while also seeking to improve experiences of positive emotions, pleasure, and a sense of connectedness to one’s life. I take a balanced approach to treatment that involves teaching active skills to cope with mental and physical symptoms, while also taking time to process the ways in which one’s emotional landscape and belief system may have been impacted by the depression. When working with clients experiencing depression, I tend to draw from several therapeutic approaches, including self-compassion techniques, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). For more information on these approaches, please see below!

I provide treatment for various anxiety presentations, including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorder, and specific phobias (i.e., fears). While anxiety manifests differently from person to person, one common symptom across presentations is the urge to avoid distress-provoking situations. I use evidence-based treatment approaches that seek to help clients reduce their avoidance. While avoidance is our natural human tendency in the face of anxiety, learning how to counteract the desire to withdraw is a crucial step in helping us change our relationship with anxiety for the better. The therapeutic approaches I typically use to treat anxiety include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). For more information about those approaches, please see below!

Insomnia refers to persistent difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, waking up earlier than desired, finding sleep to be restless or of poor quality, or some combination of these experiences. The gold-standard, front-line recommended treatment for insomnia is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). This is a behavioral treatment, meaning there is no medication involved. CBT-I is an incredibly effective treatment for insomnia and can often be completed in as little as 6-8 sessions. The treatment is active and collaborative in nature and involves learning about sleep, monitoring your sleep using a daily sleep diary (~2 minutes to complete each morning), and making recommended changes to your sleep patterns and habits. The goal of this treatment is to improve your overall sleep quality and to teach you skills that you can use to support your sleep over time, even after therapy has ended. To learn more about CBT-I, please click here.

I provide treatment for people experiencing distress following traumatic events, including people who meet diagnostic criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There are a few gold-standard, evidence-based approaches for trauma-focused treatment, including Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), and Written Exposure Therapy (WET). These treatments have been rigorously tested, and research shows that they are equally effective in reducing trauma symptoms. Accordingly, I like to discuss these treatments with my clients and make a collaborative decision together as to which treatment we will pursue. The treatments share in common some degree of having the client process and reflect on a past traumatic event(s), though the treatments differ in the what the processing entails and how it is carried out. Please click the links above if you are interested in learning more about CPT, PE, and WET.

I have experience working with clients facing a range of different health concerns, including cancer, chronic pain, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, thyroid disorders, sleep disorders, diabetes, and weight management. I also have experience working with pregnant and postpartum individuals. I use a values-focused approach in my work with clients who are facing health conditions. This means that at the outset of treatment, we identify the things that are most important to you in life, as well as how you want to live your life. These values will then serve as a compass that guides the direction of our work together.

Some common areas of focus in my work include processing and coping with the emotional, physical, and interpersonal consequences of one’s illness, navigating and adjusting to “new realities” people face due to illness(es), behavioral symptom management (e.g., improving medication adherence, preventing flare-ups), and pursuing new or existing goals in the face of illness-related limitations. My work also includes helping clients build coping skills in various domains, such as skills related to self-advocacy, self-compassion, and self-care.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an umbrella term that refers to a general approach to psychotherapy, as well as several different specific types of mental health treatment (e.g., CBT for Anxiety, CBT for Depression, etc.). CBT was developed in the 1970s and has been rigorously tested in clinical trials over the past several decades. Research shows that CBT is an effective, and often first-line approach to treating a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, trauma/PTSD, and emotional distress related to health conditions (e.g., chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome).

CBT interventions seek to address three important components of our mental health and emotions: our cognitions (i.e., thoughts, beliefs), our behaviors, and our physical sensations/symptoms. CBT providers teach their clients skills and strategies designed to target these three components of our mental health, all with the goal of reducing symptoms and improving emotional well-being. CBT is a very active, collaborative approach to treatment where clients can expect to learn tangible skills to cope with their mental health symptoms. For more information about CBT, please click here.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is considered a “third-wave” cognitive behavioral therapy. It falls under the CBT umbrella, but it has its own unique approach to treatment. ACT focuses less on changing our symptoms or experiences, and instead encourages us to cultivate acceptance for the wide range of experiences in our lives: both “good” and “bad”, “pleasant” and “unpleasant”, “wanted” and “unwanted”. Acceptance does not mean passively resigning to the difficulties in life - instead it is embodied by taking an active, willing stance to face the reality of our lives. Acceptance can help us reduce the “struggle” we endure when trying to avoid our own inner experiences, such as our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations.

ACT involves practicing mindfulness both inside and outside of session as a means of helping us connect with (vs. avoid) our inner experiences. ACT also includes a heavy emphasis on helping clients identify their personal values and developing plans of action to increasingly live a life that is aligned with those values. ACT helps us redirect the time and energy that we spend on avoiding painful experiences toward instead pursuing a meaningful and fulfilling life - despite the painful experiences we are facing. 

ACT is an evidence-based intervention that has been shown to be helpful for people facing various mental and physical health concerns. I enjoy delivering ACT in my work with clients as it teaches skills that can be applied widely to multiple domains of our life, beyond the scope of addressing mental health symptoms. ACT is also a particularly helpful intervention for individuals facing chronic stressors, as the treatment helps us navigate challenges in life that we do not have much control over. ACT is an active form of treatment that includes building skills, as well as attending to inner experiences (i.e., emotions, thoughts, and sensations) as they show up both inside and outside of sessions. For more information about ACT, please click here. 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is also considered a “third-wave” cognitive behavioral therapy. While DBT shares similar treatment components to CBT and ACT, it has its own structure and areas of emphasis. DBT has four main domains of skills-building: 1) mindfulness, 2) distress tolerance, 3) emotion regulation and 4) interpersonal effectiveness. The core philosophy of DBT is that a “dialectic” (i.e., contradiction) exists in life, such that there is a need for both acceptance and change in order for us to maintain a sense of well-being and inner peace. The skills taught in DBT help people navigate dialectics in their life, and simultaneously pursue both acceptance of “things as they are” and change in the direction of a life worth living.

DBT was originally developed to help address chronic suicidality and has since become the gold-standard treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD). As time has gone on, DBT has increasingly been studied in other clinical populations and has been shown to be beneficial for other mental health concerns such as depression, anxiety, difficulties with emotion regulation and difficulties in interpersonal relationships. I often incorporate DBT skills in my work with clients, as they can help us become more aware of our emotions and our patterns of reacting to said emotions. DBT also teaches skills that can help us respond to our emotions in more “workable” ways that are aligned with our goals.

Please note that while I do not provide comprehensive DBT in my private practice at this time, I am happy to refer you to providers who are able to do so. Comprehensive DBT includes weekly individual therapy, participation in weekly DBT skills group, phone coaching between sessions (as needed), and the provider’s participation in a weekly DBT consultation team. I provide “modified” DBT consisting of individual weekly therapy. For more information about DBT, please click here.